Hi, I'm Dana and I have a Design blog called:
MADE. I don't usually post full-body shots of myself but hey, we're peeking into my life right? So, uh, this is me (in the summer, when it's warm):
I have two small children who keep my life busy, yet full of purpose. They truly are the inspiration behind my sewing. It seems like a catch 22 at times. Because I have little children, it's hard to find time to sew. Yet, because I have them, I WANT TO sew. So thank you, little ones, for keeping my creative mind turning! I also have a wonderful husband who (thankfully) finds my craft as interesting as I do. He's always excited about my next new idea or my next pattern or just seeing what's going on with my site. It's a nice relief, since most nights are spent with him on the laptop watching National Geographic, while I sit at our Desktop clanking away on the blog (or the sewing machine).
I learned to sew when I was 10 from my Grandma and Mom. They taught me how to sew a straight line on a brown paper bag. And from there, I learned to sew with patterns. I had a colorful ensemble of gathered-waist-band pants when I was 12. So I'm pleased that my style (and skills) have improved since then. These days, I prefer to sew without store-bought patterns and try to create the pictures I see in my mind. I still use clothing and measurements to guide me along but it's so exciting to just....make it!
I've been blogging for 2 years now and wowzers. I hate to sound cliche (or dumb) but the internet is truly amazing. I have made friendships with people all over the world, who love to blog and create just like me! And Kristi is one of those friends. She's got a fabulous writing style. I just love jumping over to her site. And I'm very excited to be part of the PEEK series!
So today we're going to peek into....yep, my sewing room. Can you see it hiding back there?
I've never had a sewing room until 5 months ago. In our old 2 bedroom apartment, both my machines sat permanently at our kitchen table. So when we doubled our space in our new house I told my husband I needed my own room. That translated into a Sewing Nook (sitting in the same room as our office). But I'm more than happy with my own little piece of creativity.
And here it is. Breathe it in and then, let's move to the back corner....
My husband got me this thread rack for my birthday. Yipee! I think I could use another....
If you know me, you know that I love to repurpose, well, anything. Most things can be transformed or used for something else. And though I wouldn't call myself a "pack rat" (I do know my limits) I'm always looking for a way to reuse the old treasures I find. This basket used to be brown. A coat of Turquoise spray paint, and now it's my notions basket:
Under the basket is a box (that someone at work was throwing away. Dude, that's a nice box! I took it) I keep random card-making supplies, shipping labels, most paper-craft things I need. I know, I know, you scrapbookers are gasping right now.
Those are ALL the papery things she owns? Well there's a bit more in the closet but yea. Mostly I'm a fabric girl.
Behind the box is something that every sewing room needs....baby wipes. I actually have a box of these in most rooms in the house. After sewing and serging for a few days, a clean wipe on the table is so very refreshing:
On top of my wipes is a funny little box I found in the Target Dollar section. Not sure what it's for but it fits all my bobbins just fine!
And a cute little cup from Goodwill to hold my pens, seam ripper, and tweezers (the only way to thread your serger):
My desk is from IKEA. I researched, knew I wanted it, and found it the next day on Craigslist. How I love that Craigslist.
And the top billing items of the room....my Sewing machine and Serger! Both are Bernina. Both are lovely. They can be a bit pricey but they have been wonderful. Of course what I'm sure you're more interested in is the fun artwork on the wall?
Let's get a close-up. Back in May I became friends with Rachel of
THIS cool shop and fell in love with her stuff. We did a trade. My
Market Skirt for her beautiful Abraham Lincoln quote painting on the left. And just for fun, she made me the cute little painting on the right (it was right around the time I'd been making
the Shirt Dress). Too sweet of her:
And yep, there they are. They're heavy. All metal. The Bernina 1008 Sewing Machine and the 800 DL Serger:
Under my sewing table are some cubby holes. This little (cabootle? are they still called that?) container makes me laugh. My mom got it for me 6 years ago when I started sewing again. At that point it fit all of my sewing supplies. My, how that has expanded.
Now it holds.....serging thread! And just so you know....I'm a lazy serger-er. I only thread my machine with 3 threads (instead of 4). Which means less spools for me to stash!
Below the thread is a very classy way to hold my "patterns"....in a Target shopping bag. I need to find a cuter container. By "Patterns" I mean.....clothing items that my kids have grown out of which I either use as a guideline for something new or I completely destroy it and take it apart to use as a pattern for a similar pair of pants, etc:
Okay, moving on. You still with me? Let's head up to the shelves. My husband made these for me. Simple. Just for holding treasures. A clock, a gumball trophy from the
You Were Spotted Awards, a little glass box and well....let's move in closer.....
This little basket used to be in my kitchen. Now it's the perfect spot to hold inventory items that need to be mailed out. In this case, little
ruffled heart cards from the Craft Hope for Haiti cause:
I love this box. I feel like a 4 year old princess-loving girl when I open it. My boss sent me flowers inside of it when I gave birth Lucy 4 years ago and I've held on to it ever since. Want to peek inside?
Well, what else would be inside a green box, but GREEN bills? I usually keep random cash in here. Money I made at a craft show or from hairclip sales or whatever. Yea, don't be too jealous. There's only 7 bucks in there.
I often tear things out of magazines if I like the color or design. So we have a little thrifted frame, spray painted orange, with a photo of an orange bathroom. And in the cheap IKEA boxes to the right.....
ooooo. I love things that are simple. And colorful. And clean. I just love looking at these boxes stacked up:
all sorts of Elastic:
And my clothing labels! Peeking in this box feels like candy to me. I just want to run my fingers through all those little yellow tags. And in case you're wondering, yes, I switched these from the picture above where they were in the pink box. Or as Dr. Richard Kimble says, "You
switched the
samples."
Moving down is a dresser I bought at a garage sale and gave a white/turquoise face-lift to. The phone on the left is from my working days at Universal. They had an "asset sale" (selling old props from our movies) and this was one of the phones from
The Cat in the Hat. Not that it was a cool movie, but it's a pretty cool phone!
in the button box next to the phone are....
Buttons! My stash needs to grow a bit.
And at the far right are magazine boxes for my sketch book (which I'm not very good at), sewing machine manuals, magazines, a notebook for inspiring photos, pattern pieces, and whatever else needs to be kept "safe":
The drawers are full of trim, ribbons, feathers, bias tape, and I'm not even sure what else is in there....
Another random find. This little bag once held a 7-pack of girls panties from H&M. Now it's the perfect container for all my zippers!
There's a box on the floor for my scraps (boring moving box. I need something cuter). A basket for "current" things I'm working on. And a cutting mat:
Just one of my fabric cabinets. There's another.....and another.....and a few bins. But we'll just show you this one. Notice the Non-Fray Nylon chiffon on the second shelf? More
Can-Cans on the horizon....?
And one other item that every sewing room needs: a Lint Roller. Before I ship anything out to customers, everything gets a roll with the Lint Brush:
And probably my favorite part of the room, LIGHTS! From IKEA, my husband hung these for me and they are deevine. Want to see them switched on? Okay.
Ta-Da! And there you have it folks. Dana's sewing room, in a nut shell (or nook). So when it's 11pm and you're checking one last blog before heading to bed, you can picture me sitting right there in that chair, machines humming away, as I yell over my shoulder,
I'll be done in 5 minutes! It's a sewing life. Thanks for stopping by!
****************************************************************************
Enter Kristi
Dana!!!!!! I love love seeing where all of your magic happens!
Dana does such inspiring work and just won So You Think You're Crafty and totally rocked it out! And like I've said to her (via email cause we're peoples like that) when I grow up I'm gonna make some of her fabulous creations. She has a shop on her site where you can purchase items and patterns so for sure you must go check out what she does. So my style!
Thanks so much Dana for doing this! She's been a really great blog/email friend and is super nice and I want to move next door to her! For reals.
Go check out Dana's blog. You'll become one of her many followers -- if you're not already!
Dana ---let me know when the house next door goes up for sale....I just have to let Hot Husband know;)
-------
Oh how I'm so loving PEEKing inside your worlds peoples!!!
If you wish to do a PEEK you know what to do! Email me at myvisiblevoice at hotmail dot com and put PEEK in the subject line.
Until next time lovies!
Posts
I have two small children who keep my life busy, yet full of purpose. They truly are the inspiration behind my sewing. It seems like a catch 22 at times. Because I have little children, it's hard to find time to sew. Yet, because I have them, I WANT TO sew. So thank you, little ones, for keeping my creative mind turning! I also have a wonderful husband who (thankfully) finds my craft as interesting as I do. He's always excited about my next new idea or my next pattern or just seeing what's going on with my site. It's a nice relief, since most nights are spent with him on the laptop watching National Geographic, while I sit at our Desktop clanking away on the blog (or the sewing machine).
I learned to sew when I was 10 from my Grandma and Mom. They taught me how to sew a straight line on a brown paper bag. And from there, I learned to sew with patterns. I had a colorful ensemble of gathered-waist-band pants when I was 12. So I'm pleased that my style (and skills) have improved since then. These days, I prefer to sew without store-bought patterns and try to create the pictures I see in my mind. I still use clothing and measurements to guide me along but it's so exciting to just....make it!
I've never had a sewing room until 5 months ago. In our old 2 bedroom apartment, both my machines sat permanently at our kitchen table. So when we doubled our space in our new house I told my husband I needed my own room. That translated into a Sewing Nook (sitting in the same room as our office). But I'm more than happy with my own little piece of creativity.
My husband got me this thread rack for my birthday. Yipee! I think I could use another....
If you know me, you know that I love to repurpose, well, anything. Most things can be transformed or used for something else. And though I wouldn't call myself a "pack rat" (I do know my limits) I'm always looking for a way to reuse the old treasures I find. This basket used to be brown. A coat of Turquoise spray paint, and now it's my notions basket:
Under the basket is a box (that someone at work was throwing away. Dude, that's a nice box! I took it) I keep random card-making supplies, shipping labels, most paper-craft things I need. I know, I know, you scrapbookers are gasping right now. Those are ALL the papery things she owns? Well there's a bit more in the closet but yea. Mostly I'm a fabric girl. 
Behind the box is something that every sewing room needs....baby wipes. I actually have a box of these in most rooms in the house. After sewing and serging for a few days, a clean wipe on the table is so very refreshing:
On top of my wipes is a funny little box I found in the Target Dollar section. Not sure what it's for but it fits all my bobbins just fine!
And a cute little cup from Goodwill to hold my pens, seam ripper, and tweezers (the only way to thread your serger):
My desk is from IKEA. I researched, knew I wanted it, and found it the next day on Craigslist. How I love that Craigslist.
And the top billing items of the room....my Sewing machine and Serger! Both are Bernina. Both are lovely. They can be a bit pricey but they have been wonderful. Of course what I'm sure you're more interested in is the fun artwork on the wall?
Let's get a close-up. Back in May I became friends with Rachel of THIS cool shop and fell in love with her stuff. We did a trade. My Market Skirt for her beautiful Abraham Lincoln quote painting on the left. And just for fun, she made me the cute little painting on the right (it was right around the time I'd been making the Shirt Dress). Too sweet of her:
And yep, there they are. They're heavy. All metal. The Bernina 1008 Sewing Machine and the 800 DL Serger:
Under my sewing table are some cubby holes. This little (cabootle? are they still called that?) container makes me laugh. My mom got it for me 6 years ago when I started sewing again. At that point it fit all of my sewing supplies. My, how that has expanded.
Now it holds.....serging thread! And just so you know....I'm a lazy serger-er. I only thread my machine with 3 threads (instead of 4). Which means less spools for me to stash!
Below the thread is a very classy way to hold my "patterns"....in a Target shopping bag. I need to find a cuter container. By "Patterns" I mean.....clothing items that my kids have grown out of which I either use as a guideline for something new or I completely destroy it and take it apart to use as a pattern for a similar pair of pants, etc:
Okay, moving on. You still with me? Let's head up to the shelves. My husband made these for me. Simple. Just for holding treasures. A clock, a gumball trophy from the You Were Spotted Awards, a little glass box and well....let's move in closer.....
This little basket used to be in my kitchen. Now it's the perfect spot to hold inventory items that need to be mailed out. In this case, little ruffled heart cards from the Craft Hope for Haiti cause:
I love this box. I feel like a 4 year old princess-loving girl when I open it. My boss sent me flowers inside of it when I gave birth Lucy 4 years ago and I've held on to it ever since. Want to peek inside?
Well, what else would be inside a green box, but GREEN bills? I usually keep random cash in here. Money I made at a craft show or from hairclip sales or whatever. Yea, don't be too jealous. There's only 7 bucks in there.
I often tear things out of magazines if I like the color or design. So we have a little thrifted frame, spray painted orange, with a photo of an orange bathroom. And in the cheap IKEA boxes to the right.....
ooooo. I love things that are simple. And colorful. And clean. I just love looking at these boxes stacked up:
all sorts of Elastic:
And my clothing labels! Peeking in this box feels like candy to me. I just want to run my fingers through all those little yellow tags. And in case you're wondering, yes, I switched these from the picture above where they were in the pink box. Or as Dr. Richard Kimble says, "You switched the samples."
Moving down is a dresser I bought at a garage sale and gave a white/turquoise face-lift to. The phone on the left is from my working days at Universal. They had an "asset sale" (selling old props from our movies) and this was one of the phones from The Cat in the Hat. Not that it was a cool movie, but it's a pretty cool phone!
in the button box next to the phone are....
Buttons! My stash needs to grow a bit.
And at the far right are magazine boxes for my sketch book (which I'm not very good at), sewing machine manuals, magazines, a notebook for inspiring photos, pattern pieces, and whatever else needs to be kept "safe":
The drawers are full of trim, ribbons, feathers, bias tape, and I'm not even sure what else is in there....
Another random find. This little bag once held a 7-pack of girls panties from H&M. Now it's the perfect container for all my zippers!
There's a box on the floor for my scraps (boring moving box. I need something cuter). A basket for "current" things I'm working on. And a cutting mat:
Just one of my fabric cabinets. There's another.....and another.....and a few bins. But we'll just show you this one. Notice the Non-Fray Nylon chiffon on the second shelf? More Can-Cans on the horizon....?
And one other item that every sewing room needs: a Lint Roller. Before I ship anything out to customers, everything gets a roll with the Lint Brush:
And probably my favorite part of the room, LIGHTS! From IKEA, my husband hung these for me and they are deevine. Want to see them switched on? Okay.
Ta-Da! And there you have it folks. Dana's sewing room, in a nut shell (or nook). So when it's 11pm and you're checking one last blog before heading to bed, you can picture me sitting right there in that chair, machines humming away, as I yell over my shoulder, I'll be done in 5 minutes! It's a sewing life. Thanks for stopping by!
